


Framed

by switcho_16



Category: Fifth Harmony (Band), One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, Murder Mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 10:09:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14234985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/switcho_16/pseuds/switcho_16
Summary: Believe it or not, Lauren Jauregui was actually looking forward to her junior year. She had her friends, her Head Editor spot for the school literary magazine, and the chance at romance with new student Camila Cabello.Everything is good until one of her schoolmates is found dead on campus, and suspicion shifts quickly to both Lauren and Camila. Both girls assert their innocence, but Lauren never expected that in order to save her and Camila's futures and reputations, she and her friends would have to track down the school's newest serial killer.





	1. One.

"Lauren! Hey, Lauren!"

Lauren Jauregui sighed as she turned from her locker to see who was shouting after her, only to see Brad Simpson, curly haired basketball jock, full on sprinting towards her. At this point, it was far too late to run, so Lauren did her best to internally prepare herself for the inevitable conversation, praying to whatever god was up there that she could get this over with in five minutes or less. She closed her locker and turned towards the jock, who was staring at her the way a dog would worship a bowl of chicken broth with its eyes.

"Brad. Wasn't expecting to see you here. I thought you were moving," she lied.

"Where did you hear that?"

"Oh, just around."

"Oh, okay. Well, it's our first day of junior year, and we haven't really talked these past two years, and I was hoping that I could get to know you better. Maybe we can go hang sometime -"

"LAUREN! Girl, I've been searching all over campus for you! I found your homeroom, over at Negovanlis's class, and she told me that she needs to see your sorry ass ASAP! Come on!

"Dinah," Brad acknowledged the sophomore grudgingly. "Can you give us just a few more minutes?"

"I have to go, Brad. It's urgent Editing Staff business." Lauren said as seriously as she could without grinning. She stood there awkwardly for a moment before taking off, running as fast as humanly possible, with Dinah fast on her heels. Brad wasn't able to get a single word in edgewise, which was what Lauren intended to happen.

Once they were absolutely sure that the basketball jock was out of sight and earshot, Lauren revealed her ear to ear grin. "Holy shit. I'm so happy that's over. Thanks for saving my ass over there."

"That's what friends are for, Ralph." The two friends stopped running and tried to catch their breath.

"He was going to ask me out, Dinah. I could tell by the look on his face."

Dinah let out a chuckle as her friend visibly cringed. "Out of all the girls at San Diego High School, he chooses the one gayer than a herd of flannel wearing unicorns all doing the macarena on all the rainbows that the world could provide. You are gayer than any other gay that has ever gayed, and he tries to ask  _ you out. _ " Dinah can't stop herself from snickering at this point, and Lauren tries, but fails, to hate her for it.

"I better get to homeroom," Lauren deadpanned, and Dinah groaned dramatically as they made their way to Room 116. Along the way, they compared schedules. While the two were a grade apart and didn't share a homeroom, they had both Chemistry and History together.

"I want to explode at least one thing in one of our labs, just one thing. That'll make Miss Tooker lose her shit for sure."

"I'm not looking forward to having you as a lab partner, Dinah."

"Maybe we can find you a girlfriend in that Chemistry class, and you can finally get laid again. You need it."

All Lauren did in response was roll her eyes.

The two girls arrived at Lauren's room early, and Ms. Negovanlis smiled as her favorite raven haired student walks in the door.

"Nice to see you here, Jauregui. You too, Hansen. And I hate to start off this godforsaken year with one of those shitty questions every single run-of-the-mill teacher asks, but how were your summers?"

"Good," Lauren and Dinah said simultaneously.

"I wrote some stuff here and there, read some books, hung out with friends, went to the beach. Classic cliche John Hughes-esque summer things," Lauren continued.

"You also smoked, if I'm not mistaken. At least you did it at home, not somewhere like the mall or the airport, where you could get caught," Dinah mentioned rather loudly. "I remember because in July, at 3 AM, you texted me over 200 messages, all related to whether vampires have periods or not."

"That doesn't mean she was stoned, though," Ms. Negovanlis pointed out.

"Oh, really? Well, among that ungodly bunch of messages was this." Dinah chuckled as she pulled out her phone and showed both Ms. Negovanlis and a paler than usual Lauren the screenshot she saved from that day.

_ July 14 _

Ralph:  _ heyyyyyyyyyyyy I'm smoking a blunt rn and its so funnn u should come over rn because smoking weed makes the flowrs bloom and i dont want u to miss out on the funnnnnnn _

"Sometimes I don't even know why I'm friends with you." Lauren said to Dinah, her face beet red with embarrassment.

"Well, weed has the potential to make the world a better place. I don't see anything bad in you smoking it, Lauren, unless it's in the middle of the goddamn school. Weed can increase creative output, and it's good for everyone to get that stick out of their asses and smoke a joint every once in a while."

This was just one of many reasons why Negovanlis was one of the most well liked teachers in the school. She was young and beautiful, but it wasn't even that that made the students like her. It was Natasha's open mind, as well as a never ceasing desire to help students, that drew them to her. Literally any student, no matter who they were or what they were going through, could go to her for help. Her door was always open and her heart was always ready to try to understand and help as much as possible, something that was incredibly rare among the staff members of SDHS.

"As for the Whistle Stop Review," Negovanlis continued. "We're setting up signups for the Editing Team this week. I'm optimistic for the Editing Team, since a lot of new students coming in have expressed some degree of interest in it. After the first meeting, we'll assign everyone their posts. The first Writing Club meeting is on Wednesday after school. Think you can make it?"

Lauren nodded. She was the Co-Head Editor of SDHS's literary journal,  _ The Whistle Stop Review, _ and a co-President of the school's Writing Club. Unlike her past 2 years of high school, Lauren was somewhat looking forward to her junior year. She was a leader in two after school clubs that she had been involved in since freshman year, and her friends would be with her every step of the way.

"Believe me, Ms. Vanlis," Dinah chimed in, using the teacher's disliked nickname. "Lauser here wouldn't miss that first meeting for the world. She drove me and Mani -"

"Mani and I," interjected Lauren.

"Whatever, Lauser. But as I was saying - she was talking about your little Stopwatch Review non stop last week. She was spewing ideas and shit like a geyser we couldn't put a cork in."

The teacher sighed, already exasperated with Dinah Jane, and the first period of the first day hadn't even started. She was secretly grateful that Dinah wasn't in her English class as she addressed the sassy young junior. "Hansen, if you were in Bauman's Homeroom, I'd tell her to take 50 points from Gryffindor right now, for dissing your friend's enthusiasm, and refusing to stop calling me Vanlis since your freshman year."

Ms. Bauman had a yearly habit of Sorting all of her Homeroom students into Hogwarts houses on the first day of school, and using the House points system as a way of keeping the classroom in line. Many a friend had been made due to the Bauman Sorting, and the battle for the Bauman House Cup had grown increasingly competitive over the past year or so. However, Dinah was in a different Homeroom, so none of this mattered to her whatsoever.

"Sure, Jan," Dinah chose to respond, only half kidding, before she checked the clock. "It's almost 7:45. I better go. See you later, Lauser. Try not to spend the whole Homeroom period buried alive in a poetry book like you did last year."

As Dinah exited Room 116, a small herd of students entered their new Homeroom. Lauren's face eased into a grin as she put her book down to glimpse at some pleasantly familiar faces.

"Mani! Selena! Zayn! You've all got Homeroom here?"

"No shit, Sherlock." Normani replied as she gives her childhood friend a hug. "Why else would we be here?"

The group decided to sit together in a desk cluster, and as he took his seat Zayn asked the others, "D'you notice anything different about me from June?"

"Um," Selena hesitated before saying, "You mean, other than the new pink hairdo?"

"It's cool, right?" Zayn said as he lifted his right hand to fiddle with his newly pink locks.

"Wait a minute." Selena said, eyes narrowed and glancing at Zayn's inked left arm. "Those tattoos better be fake."

"At least they're legal." Lauren pointed out. "He turned 18 this past January."

"How many do you have?" Mani asked.

"At least twenty so far. I've got a friend who does it for cheap."

"He's pretty fucking dope at the tattoo business then." said Lauren. "That ink on your left hand is a work of art. So elaborate. You think you could hook me up?"

"Speaking of hookups..." Normani began, and Lauren's smile immediately vanished. She knew what Normani's smirk meant for her.

"Dinah and I were talking, and it seems that great minds do think alike, because we both agreed on one thing, and that was that you need a girlfriend, Lauren. Get your ass back in the game, yeah?"

Lauren had no response for her friend, and even if she did, she wouldn't have had an opportunity to say it. The bell to signify the end of Homeroom had rung.

Lauren Michelle Jauregui had just been saved by the bell.

Lauren's first class was AP Literature, conveniently taught by Negovanlis in the exact same classroom that she was in. Lauren waved while Selena and a grumbling Normani left the room and smiled at Zayn, who shared her AP Lit class, before they both got up and strolled over to Negovanlis's desk.

"Yo, Negovanlis." Zayn greeted, getting a wave in return. "Who's in AP Lit with us?"

The teacher scanned the attendance sheet. "Basically, it's everyone from your World Literature Honors class last year, like Lucy Vives, Cara with the long last name, Louis and his boyfriend Harry -"

"How did you know they were together?"

" Teachers gossip too, Jauregui. And based on what's being said in the lounge, the janitors have become used to seeing them in the supply closet by now. Anyways, besides them is Taylor Swift -"

A series of exasperated groans followed before Zayn asked. "Did you try to transfer her to another period?"

"Yes, and I was unsuccessful. She threw what was essentially a hissy fit and threatened to report me to the superintendent."

"Typical Taylor, then," Lauren stated.

"But we've also got a new face in our class. Some new kid named Camila. She's a sophomore."

"A sophomore?" Lauren quirked an eyebrow. "AP Lit is a junior and up class, though."

"Most of the time," the teacher replied. "But when we tested her for an English class placement, she scored super high for not just a sophomore, but any high school student. Not putting her in this class would just be a waste of talent. And we wouldn't want that, would we?"

"I'd be fine with it." Zayn raised his hand jokingly.

"And so would I, at times. However, then the fucking parents would complain, and I'd get fired."

"That sucks."

"You know what they say in the school systems. The angry parent is always right, or else they'll murder you in your sleep and all that shit." Natasha would have kept on talking if the door hadn't opened, letting in a steady stream of about twenty other students, among them the ones she mentioned by name to Lauren and Zayn.

Lauren was glad to see Lucy, Harry, and Louis enter the room and sit around where she and Zayn were sitting.Only one of the seats was empty, the one on Lauren's right, closest to the teacher's desk. Across the room, Taylor's squad also seemed to be gathering together, clumping around their leader like bacteria cluster around one another. Taylor and Lauren had never been on very good terms, not since Taylor caught Lauren and Zayn smoking weed on the soccer field during freshman year and proceeded to immediately snitch to the nearest teacher. That teacher happened to be Ms. Negovanlis, who struck a deal with the two stoned students - join the Editing Team, which was lacking in members that year, or go to the Principal's office and plead their cases to him. No matter how much weed they smoked, Lauren Jauregui and Zayn Malik weren't stupid. It took them no time whatsoever to agree to the first option - and grew to like the Editing Team enough to stay in it through sophomore and now junior year. Cara, Karlie, and Gigi had been part of Taylor's squad even before the weed incident, but had always been nice to both Lauren and Zayn, who viewed them as acquaintances.

The next person to enter the room had no such warm welcome. Lauren, Zayn, and the others all took a moment to scowl at the sight of football quarterback Shawn mendes entering the room, with his usual sense of cockiness and swagger in his step. Luckily, he too avoided the seat next to Lauren and the teacher's desk, choosing to sit as closely to Taylor as possible. The bell rang to signify the start of the period, and Ms. Negovanlis began her lecture.

"Before summer break, I assigned you guys summer reading books. Who knows which books those were?"

Louis's hand skyrocketed into the air.

"Thank you, Louis, for actually giving a shit about this class. What books were they?"

"Uh... _ Carmilla _ by J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Ginsberg's  _ Howl, _ and  _ Fahrenheit 451 _ ."

"See, class." Negovanlis continued, taking special care to send the occasional disapproving glance towards Shawn and Taylor. "Louis here read the books. Unless he fucks up big time, I predict that he'll do okay in this class. I can't say that about a certain few in this room." More pointed glares at Shawn and Taylor ensued before Natasha went on. "For those of you who actually did your reading - good job. That's because in approximately...let's see, ten and a half minutes, you'll be given a timed in class essay on all three books. For those of you who didn't read, use this time to either beg a fellow classmate for information or consult your handy dandy SparkNotes collection. Your ten and a half minute cramming session starts...now."

Shawn turned to the first person who seemed to know the books well enough, which happened to be Gigi, who had already started spewing information to both Shawn and Taylor, the only two who hadn't read at least one of the assigned books.

About three minutes in, the door to the classroom burst open, and a girl entered, arms full of books. The door opening was enough to distract Lauren from her collection of Bukowski's poetry. Enough time to glance at that pair of big, brown eyes, deep like a sea of chocolate.

Lauren had never realized before how easy it was to become entranced by a person. The new girl, hands still full of books, was trying to blow some strands of her long brown hair off her face.

"I'm so sorry," she said, not only to Ms. Negovanlis, but to everyone in the class as well. "My locker wouldn't open, and then I thought we were in Room 216, but instead I accidentally walked into a freshman Spanish class, and then I remembered that your room was downstairs, so I tripped on the stair for nothing. Where should I sit?"

"Wherever you -" Negovanlis had said before the girl's pile of books wobbled out of the girl's arms and landed to the floor with a BLAM.

A blush rushed to the girl's cheeks like a wildfire in a forest of tumbleweeds. All she could sputter out was, "I-I'm so sorry". She bent down to pick up the various books she had dropped.

Lauren would have been perfectly content just staring at the girl's ass until the studying time was over, but then she realized that maybe instead of booty-ogling, this new girl would get a better impression of her if she went and helped her out. So that was what Lauren did. After marking her page, she put her book down and made her way to the front of the room, crouched down, and started picking up books and putting them on the nearest empty desk, the one next to her seat. Among the stash of books were the summer reading books,  _ I Am the Messenger, Pride and Prejudice,  _ Ada Limon's  _ Bright Dead Things,  _ and a tattered but well loved copy of  _ To Kill a Mockingbird. _

"Nice group of books you have here," Lauren whispered to the girl as they picked up the last of the books - Steinbeck's  _ East of Eden _ and John Green's  _ The Fault in Our Stars _ .

"Thanks."

"Yeah, it's an interesting collection of literature. But I like the variety."

By now, both Lauren and the new girl had risen to their feet, and the girl was moving her backpack over to the empty seat on Lauren's right.

"Thank you again. For helping me out. I'm so clumsy, so I shouldn't have been so surprised, but I thought that I'd die of embarrassment. I mean, it's my first class on my first day at this new school, and I'm probably going to end up being the new laughingstock of it now."

"No you won't. People have done a lot worse." Lauren replied quickly, trying to comfort the smaller girl but also wondering if she responded  _ too _ quickly. She didn't want to sound too eager. They had just met, for fuck's sake, and Lauren was already wondering if she was moving too fast, setting her expectations too high. Honestly, she probably was.

"Like what? Name one incident worse than this one."

Lauren couldn't help but grin, since it wasn't so much a matter as finding one situation that was worse but choosing which one she wanted to talk about. "At prom last year, someone on the set-up committee replaced the brownies with edibles. It was hilarious, and surprisingly the school didn't realize that it was her until she had graduated. That was the best dance I've ever been to. By far." She chuckled at the memory of it.

The shorter brunette giggled as well. "I guess so. That is really bad."

Lauren wanted that giggle as her new ringtone.

"So...what's your name?" she asked.

"Camila. Camila Cabello."

"I'm Lauren. You're the new sophomore, right?"

"Yeah,"Camila replied, frowning slightly. "How did you know?"

"Um, Negovanlis said you had an interest in the SDHS Writing Club, possibly the  _ Whistle Stop Review's  _ Editing Team, and she mentioned that you were in this class."

"You're a part of the Writing Club?"

"I'm actually one of the co-Presidents. We'd be glad to have you." Lauren replied proudly.

"I really didn't start writing until last year, so I can't say my stuff is really good," Camila replied shyly.

"It doesn't matter if you're good or not. You don't have to be some prolific writer to join. All we require is a love for writing, and I can see you've got that. Our first meeting is on Wednesday-"

Both girls jolted in their seats as Ms. Negovanlis's timer went off and the teacher said loudly, "Come on, everyone! Back to your desks!"

"I hope you can come," Lauren whispered to Camila as Negovanlis passed out the essay prompts. Camila only responded with an amused look and a soft smile. It was only her absolute fear of Negovanlis catching her talking that prevented her from saying anything to Lauren, but even if she did let herself speak, she wouldn't know what to say. Camila wished she could create a whole new language to describe Lauren, because she already knew within seconds of meeting the raven haired, green eyed junior that the word beautiful would never be enough to describe the effortless beauty she seemed to possess.

Both girls ended up spending a good chunk of their essay writing time thinking about their chance meeting. Camila fretted over the possibility of Lauren being straight. The possibility of Lauren having a boyfriend. The possibility of Lauren's love poems being filled with he and him pronouns. She shuddered at the thought, eventually succumbing to self made delusions of her holding Lauren's hand, of kissing those velvet lips, of being the muse for Lauren's writing. Although she often considered herself to be a realistic person, Camila was unable to deny the fact that living in a world of delusion was often better than reality, and soothing to her vulnerable, already crumbling, heart.

Lauren thought about Camila's face, and for the first time in a long while, acknowledged the possibility of a god. Only a higher power could sculpt in flesh and bones and soul and skin what Michelangelo was only able to replicate in inanimate marble, what Da Vinci could only attempt to paint on canvas. These artists could try to create humanity, and came close to cloning the essence of human, but something was always missing, be it soul or feeling or breath or life. Lauren saw in Camila what artists had been trying and failing to capture in their works for centuries. In Camila, Lauren saw purity of beauty. Purity of soul. Purity of life.

Lauren knew her heart was a labyrinth that nobody, let alone herself, could navigate through with any sense of certainty. But perhaps, Lauren considered, for the first time in years, she could find love on this path she's chosen to travel through.

 


	2. Two.

 

To Lauren's surprise and delight, Camila shared more than just an English class with her. In Chemistry, Lauren walked into the lab room, only to see Camila waving at her shyly.   
  
By the end of Chemistry Camila had agreed to eat lunch with Lauren and her rambunctious group of friends, and Lauren had to resist the urge to shout out her giddiness from the school rooftops.   
  
After History, the fourth class of the day, Dinah Jane Hansen had already caught onto the fact that Lauren was whipped as fuck for the new girl. Lauren had been lonely for a while and hadn't dated since her last girlfriend dumped her. By a stroke of pure luck, Alicia had transferred to San Diego Middle College the summer after she dumped Lauren, and Lauren didn't have to spend her sophomore year around a person she had still been in love with at the time.   
  
So the fact that Lauren seemed so enthralled with this new kid or whatever both excited and worried Dinah. It worried her because Lauren seemed overeager to place her heart in - what was the new kid's name - Canola or something like that's hands. Now, if Canola was gay and she and Lauren got together and had a healthy relationship and shit, that would be great. Dinah would be the first person to captain that ship. God knows that Lauren needed a fulfilling relationship where someone didn't cheat on her sad ass like Alicia did. However, Dinah was also aware of the fact that if Lauren was rejected or the relationship went sour, she would be absolutely heartbroken. Completely shattered. If that happened there was only one thing that Dinah was certain of, and that was that Canola would be getting a major Poly Beatdown and would end up catching quite a few pairs of hands. Dinah desperately wanted to talk to Lauren about the Canola Situation, but she knew her Lauser. Lauren would deny any and everything about any sort of crush she had unless the subject was pushed to the point of her infuriation. Lauren would only be open to discussing the subject if she brought it up first. Dinah decided not to push the topic at her best friend. Judging by the way she looked at the new kid when she thought nobody was watching, Dinah figured that she wouldn't have to wait long before Lauren brought it up herself.   
  
At lunch Dinah wasn't surprised to see the new girl at their table, sitting right across from Lauren. Of fucking course. Dinah decided to sit on Lauren's left, since Zayn was already on Lauren's right. Mani and Ally sat next to Dinah, and the others - Selena, Harry, Louis, Liam, Lucy, and Ariana ended up sitting in whatever places were still left.   
  
Once she saw that everyone was there, Lauren spoke up. "Hey guys. I want to introduce you all to the new girl in the sophomore class. She's in AP English with some of us. Friends, meet Camila Cabello. Camila, meet my friends.   
  
A chorus of greeting responded to Lauren's introduction. Dinah quirked an eyebrow. So the girl's name was Camila. Canola was a close enough guess, though, and Dinah mentally patted herself on the back for her kick ass guessing skills.   
  
"Hi. Nice to meet you all," Camila responded.   
  
"Lauren told me that you're joining the Editing Team? I'm Zayn, by the way."   
  
"Yeah, I've had an interest in joining since I transferred here. I've always really liked reading literature so why not learn how to edit it?"   
  
"Nice to meet you, Mila," said Normani. "Did anyone ever tell you how Lauren and Zayn ended up joining the Editing Team? It's actually a pretty funny story..."   
  
"MANI. NO." Lauren interjected.   
  
"But Lauren-"   
  
"No."   
  
"Fine," Normani sighed, before pulling out her phone and texting.   
  
Today   
  
Mani: ayyyyye Dinah   
  
DJ: Heyy Mani. Why the fuck are you texting me? I'm sitting right next to u.   
  
Mani: it's abt Lauren...   
  
DJ: yes lauren likes camila. And by the looks of it she like her a LOT   
  
Mani: what?!? How do you know?!?   
  
DJ: just look @ the way Ralph looks at Camila. less than a day of knowing each other and they're already eye fucking. GAY AF   
  
Mani:...good to know. I guess u already have a plan set to get them together?   
  
DJ: Girl, I don't work that fast. but don't worry. the Captain of the U.S.S. Camren is gonna get dis ship sailing as soon as fucking possible   
  
Mani: Camren?   
  
DJ: their ship name   
  
Mani: SMH Dinah. but sure, I'll help u get them together.   
  
DJ: Welcome aboard, First Mate Kordei.   
  
Mani: WAIT A SEC IS CAMILA EVEN GOOD FOR LAUREN??   
  
DJ: That's what I need to figure out but once I do and if Canola is an okay puta, Operation Get Lauser Laid will finally be in progress.   
  
Mani: ... I'll talk to you later. See u in english class after lunch?   
  
DJ: yep! <3 ;)   
  
As Mani closed her Messaging App and locked her phone, she made a mental note to add a heart emoji next to Dinah's name on her Contacts. Mani had never experienced any sort of feelings for a girl before, but despite the cliche sound of it, Dinah was different. They had known each other since freshman year when they were in the same orientation group. Now, they were closer than ever and shared four classes together, including Dance. It was getting harder and harder for Normani to ignore the suggestive manner in which Dinah would dance, Dinah's toned abs and legs as she changed into her outfit for dance class, and Dinah's ass as she twerked to the beat of a Beyonce song. Dinah was seducing Normani without even knowing she was doing so, Normani sometimes wondered to herself if Dinah was kinky in any sort of way because if Dinah wanted her to, Normani would gladly call her Daddy and let her -   
  
Normani snapped herself out of her thoughts at the sound of someone calling her name.   
  
"Mani? Mani, are you there?" It was Ally, waving her hand in front of Mani's face. "What were you thinking about?"   
  
"N-nothing," Mani stammered. She could never tell Ally what was on her mind at that moment. Not sweet, innocent, Ally who was head of the Bible Study Club at school. "So...what's up?"   
  
"Ralph says the Meraki Cafe is having some shit poetry reading or something next month and she was wondering if you wanted to go." Dinah explained.   
  
"Dinah. Poetry readings aren't shit," Lauren countered. Zayn, Camila, Lucy, and Harry all nodded in agreement.   
  
"That's different!" Ariana exclaimed. "You guys are all literature geniuses, you're in the AP English class."   
  
"Meanwhile, I can't understand fucking Shakespeare for the life of me and Mark Twain's writing is absolute SHIT." Dinah added. "The only things I say are true literature are Beyonce's lyrics."   
  
Lauren's eyes narrowed at Dinah as she said, "If you go with us to the Meraki, I'll get you and Mani tickets to go see a live taping of So You Think You Can Dance."   
  
Dinah paused for a moment before answering her friend. "Lauser, you just got yourself a deal. What are we doing after the shit reading, though?"   
  
Normani's heart was fluttering like a hummingbird that had just found the world's sweetest nectar. Dinah wanted to go to the taping with her - or at least Dinah had shown no objection to taking Mani with her to the taping. She felt special, like a Kindergarten student who had just gotten a gold star sticker for good behavior.   
  
"After the reading, we're having a movie marathon at my place. I already talked to my parents about it, and they're fine with you all staying over, since they've known you all since freshman year if not longer," Lauren told the group. Lauren also noticed the rising blush on Mani's cheeks and decided to ask her about it later.   
  
"What about me?" Camila asked innocently, although she obviously looked deflated at not being one of the people Lauren's parents trusted to stay over with their daughter. Yes, this was her literal first day at SDHS and only her second month in San Diego, but she still wished that she could have had a close bond with Lauren like the rest of the group did. God, Camila wanted that closeness with her and so much more.   
  
"Oh! Well, you're really nice. My parents will love you. I don't think they'll have a problem with you staying over. Not a problem. Like, if they're okay with Zayn and Larry staying over then I'm sure they'll let you stay too!" Lauren rambled, mentally kicking herself for the flow of words that she still couldn't seem to stop.   
  
"Gee, thanks." muttered Louis.   
  
"Really feeling the love, Jauregui," Zayn jested jokingly.   
  
Lauren chose to ignore their gripes as Liam piped up, "What movies will we watch?"   
  
"We shouldn't decide, silly. The thingy is a month away," Selena told the brown haired hunk.   
  
"Forget this month," Lucy said after swallowing down a spoonful of her quinoa bowl. "What are we gonna do this week?"   
  
"It's a nice time to go to the beach, or maybe the mall," Ariana suggested.   
  
"The mall is boring," Zayn and Liam whined.   
  
"No, it isn't!" Louis and Harry responded, and the four boys commenced to argue on the virtues and vices of malls while the others conversed around them.   
  
"So, I'm assuming the beach then?"   
  
"Don't make assumptions, Lucy," Lauren answered, jerking her eyes off of Camila to look at her childhood friend. "I'm checking the Weather App right now, and the prediction is rain for Friday night and Saturday."   
  
"Of all the days to rain and stop this damn drought, San Diego chooses Friday and Saturday. Damn it!" Lucy grumbled as she checked her phone.   
  
"Let's just go to a diner then. Denny's or some shit like that," Dinah suggested. "We'll eat cheap and make spur of the moment plans later. Does anyone know a good place?"   
  
"I'll look one up and send you the address on Thursday. I've heard of two good ones in the North Park area, but one might be closed," Zayn volunteered, playfully raising his hand in the air as the bell rang to signify the end of the lunch period.   
  
After Lunch was Art, one of the two periods tied for Lauren's favorite class of the day. She already knew that Art was a class she'd enjoy, and seeing Camila enter the Art room just shortly after she had sat down just made it that much better. Icing on the cake. The professor was a Mr. Stringer, a pretty well known muralist before he fell off a ladder trying to paint a mural of humpback whales in the Downtown area. He damaged his back to the point where the doctor desperately recommended that he stay away from high ladders for the rest of his life. And so, like many artists, writers, and shouting voices of a generation eventually do, Mr. Stringer started to teach. And he taught his students to do what he could do no longer. He taught his students to climb and journey to perilous, hostile places and amidst the odds presented against them, still manage to create. Mr. Stringer was a tall, bespectacled man, but had a kind soul, an open mind, and an innovative spirit. A Navy veteran, Stringer was the type of man who would loom over you unintentionally - the type of teacher that scared freshmen until they realized that he brought his tortoises and Labrador pup to his classes at least twice a month. He liked to play George Michael, Queen, and the Beatles during the class period just for the hell of it.   
  
"Hello, class," he began. "Welcome to your beginning Art class. This year, we'll go over the basics of sketching, painting, and some aspects of printmaking. I know some of you are just taking this class because it's an art requirement. You don't want to act or dance or sing or write creatively or even make art. Some of you want to get this over with and just graduate already. In my twenty two years of teaching, that was something I learned about my classes very, very quickly."   
  
Camila had obviously chosen to sit next to Lauren for Art class, and as Mr. Stringer had paused in his lecture to take a drink of water, she whispered in Lauren's ear.   
  
"He's a nice teacher, right? He won't judge us if we suck at art? Because I can barely draw stick figures. I only joined this class because I heard that he brings a puppy to class a lot, and if I'm gonna get through finals week, I'm definitely going to need puppy therapy."   
  
Lauren grinned and forced herself to refrain from laughing at what Camila said, and steeled herself so she wouldn't shiver at the new but not unpleasant feeling of Camila's breath on her ear.   
  
She whispered back, "He's fine, Camila. All he cares about is if you put effort into your art, he doesn't care how good or bad anyone is. He just wants to see people try. And yeah, his dog is adorable. Her name is Maggie."   
  
The conversation for the time ended there. Mr. Stringer had stopped speaking about class expectations and had moved onto introductions, bringing in the classic awkward icebreakers.   
  
"I'm going to go around the room and each of you have to say your name, grade, favorite artist, and one fact about yourself. Let's start with...ah! You, the guy with the pink hair, and the girl right next to him."   
  
Lauren swiveled around in the stool she was in and already knew who she expected to see. Zayn and Lucy were there, how could she forget that? Why didn't they sit next to her? She proceeded to worry about herself as Zayn stood up and started talking.   
  
"Hi, I'm Zayn Malik. I'm a junior. I'd have to say currently my favorite artist is my tattoo guy, who etched this sick ink on my left arm. A fun fact about me? Uh...I know how to play the triangle. That's about it."   
  
Mr. Stringer moved on quickly. "Okay, who's next?"   
  
Lucy got up and introduced herself, and then another and another until finally it was Camila's turn.   
  
"Uh, hey everyone! I'm Camila Cabello. I'm a sophomore, and I like bananas. But honestly, I can't think of a favorite artist right now."   
  
"Try to come up with just one artist then, Camila. One whose work you at least like." Mr. Stringer responded.   
  
Camila paused for a moment before replying with a sudden "Andy!"   
  
"You mean Andy Warhol?"   
  
"Yes! I don't know much of his work except the banana and the Campbell's Soup Can, but those two works I really like. Especially the one of the banana."   
  
Even Mr. Stringer cracked a smile when Camila finished her answer, before moving onto Lauren.   
  
"My name's Lauren. Lauren Jauregui. I'm a junior. There are too many artists for me to name a favorite, because there are so many ways in which one can make art. Sure, there are drawings and paintings and sculptures but I also see art in cinema, in music, and in writing."   
  
Without even knowing she intended to do so, Lauren looked at Camila and continued talking, speaking as though the stars were embedded in the eyes of the person she was looking at. "Even people can be considered art. There's a beauty in humanity that not a lot of people properly acknowledge. I truly believe that you can see as much beauty in someone's face as one sees within any work by Da Vinci, Monet, or Renoir. A lot of art, especially those made by Michelangelo and Da Vinci and Raphael, were all based off of real life people. Their works, their masterpieces, were portraits and sculptures, often of women. So yes, it can't be argued that their art isn't beautiful. But just imagine how much beauty the subjects of their art had, if these women could inspire Renaissance men to create their magnum opuses. Perhaps it was something in her eyes that compelled Da Vinci to paint the Mona Lisa. Renoir didn't just paint women because he was bored. These artists saw something in their subjects, and what they saw...what they saw was beautiful. Oh. And a fact about me is that I don't like chocolate."   
  
Everyone was silent for a minute before Mr. Stringer said, "Wow. Thank you, Lauren." Then he once again started moving onto the other students.   
  
Lauren wasn't surprised. She often had a tendency to start deep conversations when others weren't exactly expecting anyone to do so. Often, nobody would respond to Lauren, and if they did, they would be asking if she was okay. Lauren was not surprised, then, by the straining silence the class endured before Mr. Stringer moved on. As all things in life eventually do.   
  
A few minutes fly by and now Lauren has taken to doodling and writing snippets in one of her notebooks, occasionally drifting her eyes to Camila, who is listening intently to the icebreakers. Unfortunately, one of the icebreakers happened to come from an arrogant looking boy with an air of misplaced confidence in himself. His skin has an ungodly tinge of orange in it, like the orange in the Dorito shells from Taco Bell. The Dorito boy was staring at Camila, completely unabashed at the fact that he is openly staring at the Cuban girl's body in the middle of an art classroom.   
  
"Austin Mahone. I'm a junior on the football team and ladies? I'm single."   
  
The douchebag attempted and failed to seduce Camila with a smoulder. As he continued to stare at her, Camila realized that as he tried to 'smoulder', his face contorts into more of a Donald Trump than the Flynn Rider look he seemed to be aiming for.   
  
The obvious fuckboy continues, "As for my favorite artist, well I gotta agree with Lauren over there cause humans are art and shit, right?"   
  
Only when Lauren's name is mentioned does she look up from the current doodle she's working on, which is a Cubist attempt at the yellow flowers outside the classroom, and actually shift her focus to the unusual yet pathetic icebreaker.   
  
"So," Austin resumed to the dismay of Zayn, Lauren, and Lucy. "If humans are art then I just wanna say that the new girl's Spanish ass is a masterpiece. Call me."   
  
Lauren rolled her eyes and forced herself not to do or say anything that she may regret. Camila looked away, somewhat humiliated. Mr. Stringer gave Austin two demerits. Otherwise class goes on as usual.   
  
It's only after school where things escalate. Lauren and Camila walk out of their Creative Writing class in Room 116 together at the end of the day, grinning like CEOs who had just gotten a raise. Lauren was talking animatedly, going on and on about the time she and Zayn were in a band together.   
  
"We only wrote, recorded, and played two songs. One was called Pillowtalk, the other was called No Way. We played four gigs at most, and after that we got lazy and called off the band."   
  
"I didn't know you could sing."   
  
"Eh, I'm okay, I guess." Lauren shrugged as they left the building and began walking toward the gym. Selena, Ariana, and Louis had cheer practice and their friends had agreed to go watch and offer moral support. "It's just that Zayn and I both liked music and wanted to see if we had songwriting chops. We actually did okay. We had a few fans. But our laziness was what did us in at the end."   
  
"Do you still write music?"   
  
Lauren paused and flickered with a pensive look on her face. "Yeah. So does Zayn. We like music too much to just leave it behind. Occasionally we just meet up without the others and share songs we've written. Harry knows a guy who owns a recording studio - Simon Cowell. Maybe we'll record a few CDs, and that will be it."   
  
"It sounds cool, a band. I like singing too, but I haven't gotten into it that much. Being in a band would be nice for a while, but eventually I'd want to go solo and do my own thing," Camila replied.   
  
"On the other hand, you can't beat the camaraderie of a band. I can see where you're coming from, though. Zayn considered us to be a duo and not a band. His definition of a band is putting four or five strangers together and asking them to sing and harmonize. All of the band members would have to work for the same style and direction of the music."   
  
Lauren and Camila were so absorbed in one another that it took them a minute to notice that they had already reached the gym, and that somebody was standing in front of the entrance.   
  
"Camilla. Hey."   
  
Lauren scowled. Dorito Boy was here. And at the moment, he seemed to have a one track mind. Why couldn't he go to Taco Bell, back where he belongs?   
  
"Lauren. Camilla and I just wanted to talk. Alone. You can go watch the cheer practice. It's not that good today, anyways."   
  
Lauren's anger was bubbling up like a just opened champagne bottle. She was usually a pretty calm person, but every once in a while, she would commit "acts of irrational and unexpected anger and rage". At least, that's what the principal would say to Lauren and Zayn when they got called into the office for fighting with other students. But Lauren locked her jaw and walked into the gym, seemingly leaving Camila alone. She knew Mahone just wanted a one night stand out of Camila, and that he would do anything if it led him to getting what he wanted. So although Austin believed that he and Camila had finally been given some alone time, he was completely unaware that Lauren was peeking out of a nook from under the bleachers, where she would remain completely unnoticed.   
  
"So. Camilla." Austin began, stepping closer. "San Diego's nice, huh?"   
  
Lauren watched as Camila attempted to shrivel into herself, like a plant that wanted to die. Yet, Lauren still forced herself to do nothing for the time being. She had promised her father that she wouldn't get into a fight this year, but she felt that if she explained her reasoning behind the possible collision of her fist with Austin's jaw, then her father would understand.   
  
Despite her better nature, Camila nodded as she shriveled and stepped back from Austin. Austin, being as careless for others as he was, doesn't care and steps closer. He snaked his arm behind Camila, tightly, and made the scene look like a side hug gone wrong. He let his arm drift from Camila's shoulder down her back.   
  
"Girl, are you from Mars?" he asked, and by then Lauren already knew where he wanted his hand to journey to. Camila is squirming a lot at this point, but she has no room to back away, and Austin would easily be able to stop her if she had lurched forward and tried to make a run for the gym. For her friends. For Lauren.   
  
Austin never got to say the end of the pickup line, because Lauren was there at the moment that the words tried to escape his lips. Lauren was there, colliding her fist with Austin's nose. She savored the relishing crack she feels reverberate through her knuckles as she made contact. Lauren was there as Austin fell to the floor, clutching his broken and bleeding nose, as he screamed profanities at her and Camila. Lauren was there as Camila thanked her worriedly, because the rage was still there. Red flashes remained in Lauren's eyes, a blood fog drifting over ocean shores.   
  
Camila felt helpless, chained into watching the chaos she never expected to be the catalyst for. She was numb as the grip of one strong arm was replaced by the tender and gentle embrace of two others. All she could do was watch as Zayn, Dinah, Lucy, and Liam run to their friend, whose eyes seemed as red as her bloodied fist.   
  
"Just don't punch him again, Laur," Zayn sighed aloud as Lucy ran to let the others know what happened.   
  
Liam scoffed as he observed Austin, who was still on the ground. "I can't say that he didn't deserve it, but Lauren, don't punch him again. I doubt that he'll tell anyone in the first place. Wouldn't want to admit why he got roughed up by Lauren Jauregui. Come on, let's go. Cheerleading is almost over, but it's best that none of us are here when Dorito gets up."   
  
With the exceptions of Harry and Dinah, who were determined to stay and wait for Louis and Normani, the group headed home within the next half hour. Once the others are gone, Dinah and Harry sat on a bench outside the locker room for a few minutes, glancing at their phones.   
  
When one does eventually talk to the other, Dinah is the first to speak. "Shit."   
  
"What? What's the matter?"   
  
"Liam said he wouldn't tell anyone," Dinah muttered. "He was wrong, Harry. Guess who posted his side of the incident in a major rant on Twitter and Instagram. Guess who just blamed Lauren for beating him up while refusing to take blame for what he did to his six thousand, five hundred followers."   
  
"Oh, no."   
  
"Oh, yes," Dinah answered grimly. "And Dorito Boy makes his ass seem all innocent, and claiming that Lauren is the one who, in his words, fucking assaulted him."   
  
"Look," Harry sighed. "The staff can't take the post as evidence. It only shows him with a broken nose, but no evidence as to how he broke it. If they ask us, we'll be uncooperative witnesses, so at least Lauren won't get suspended or anything by the staff."   
  
"True, but now most of the students are going to start treating Lauren like shit now. All because they don't know the whole story."   
  
"But even if they did know, would they treat Lauren any better?"   
  
"...No," Dinah admitted grudgingly.   
  
"Exactly. Dinah, this whole situation was inevitable. If it hadn't happened now, it would have happened later. If Camila had rejected Austin without Lauren having to punch him, he would still have come up with something to say about either one of them. They would still become social pariahs. The only possible way that this even could have been prevented was if Camila said yes to Austin dating him, which never would have happened."   
  
"True, but still! Lauren's temper managed to get the best of her again. Maybe if she had gone back to preschool and learned to keep her fists to herself, this may not have happened!"   
  
An awkward silence fell between the two. Neither had nothing else to say to the other on the topic because honestly, they were both right to an extent. If Austin hadn't found a way to approach Camila that day, he would have tried the next day and the next day, on and on and on until he finally had the chance to talk to her. No matter what time Austin had approached Camila, it still would have pissed Lauren off enough to do something in order to intervene. Both Harry and Dinah knew that in such a situation, it wasn't a question of if Lauren was going to punch him but when. On the other hand, Lauren's temper has screwed her over quite a few times, in SDHS and even outside of class. No matter how many times she has claimed that she would learn to manage it, she has never done anything in order to calm that sense of radioactivity she has within her.   
  
So when Harry wants to talk to Dinah, he simply asks the question he's known since the second day of sophomore year. "You really like Normani, don't you?"   
  
"..."   
  
"I'm here for my boyfriend. But when everyone else left, you're still here. Waiting for her. She's not even your girlfriend yet and you're willing to do anything for her."   
  
"Harry, a clock cannot calculate the amount of time that I'd be willing to wait for her. It would break or some shit before we even reached that point."   
  
"You have to tell her."   
  
"I can't ruin everything I've built up with her for so long."   
  
"Sometimes the risks you take pay off in spades when you just have a few seconds of insane courage."   
  
"And sometimes, the world doesn't work like it does in the script of Love Actually! I can't tell her. Not yet. That's final. I don't want to talk about it anymore."   
  
The two didn't speak for the rest of the day. Once practice was over, they gave one another a cursory wave before heading home.   
  
The next few days of school were some of the harder ones that Lauren and her friends had endured. Austin had publicly claimed that Lauren was the person to break his nose, and she was ostracized as a result. That also meant that her friends and Camila were also treated like shit by association.   
  
On Thursday, four days into the new school year, Lauren and Camila were walking down the cobble stoned path to the football field. Lauren had been meaning to show her the fountain that she and Liam had put Grape Kool-Aid into when she was in her freshman year, and afterwards they would head to Negovanlis's class to finally organize that first meeting for the Editing Team. While the Writing Club had held their first meeting the day before, the Editing Team was less efficient in the ability to plan meetings and had postponed their first one for sometime next week. Lauren wasn't worried. She had time.   
  
"Do you hear the screaming?"   
  
"What screaming, Camila?"   
  
"Over there. At the football field."   
  
Lauren did indeed hear the screaming, and started running towards the field to see what was going on. She stopped sharply when she saw who was on the ground, with a cheerleader at his side, screaming that her use of CPR wasn't working. The blonde sophomore was teary eyed and in shock, visibly trembling at the sight of the dead jock on the floor. One could quickly tell it wasn't accidental. There was his sports drink on the floor, spilling on the grass throughout the commotion. There was the vomit, often a side effect of cyanide poisoning. There was another cheerleader on the phone, screaming to 911 that the jock had had a seizure. The word accident was not written on the evidence of the scene. However, the word murder had been floating around the air as if it had been there all along, waiting for someone to pluck it out of the clouds and put it back into the everyday life it had always wanted to belong to. You could see it in the way the words formed in the cheerleaders' mouths. Coincidence wasn't a factor, and it never had been. This was intentional.   
  
After all, it's not every day that a football player dies of cyanide ingestion.   
  
As she approached the scene, Lauren quickly noticed how the screams quieted as she walked by, how the shock turned to whispers, how the word murderer was acquainted with her name in ways she would never expect or want to happen.   
  
Austin Mahone was dead of cyanide poisoning.   
  
And to anyone who was there at the scene when it had happened, Lauren Jauregui was the one who had killed him.

 

 


End file.
